A new digital radio station, called Stardust, was born today at 4pm.
Austereo has launched another national digital radio station called Stardust, featuring easy listening ‘timeless classics.’ Using the name made famous in Hoagy Carmichael‘s song, the station launched after a couple of weeks of bird sounds (see our previous story).
The station opened with the song Stardust, followed by Frank Sinatra’s New York New York. Other artists played in the first hour were Dean Martin, Harry Connick Junior, Bobby Darin and Elvis Presley.
The first station jingle played is a blast from the past. Listen here.
The playlist is a mixture of softer 1950s and 1960s pop, with older jazz standards. There is a lot of covers of the classics by more contemporary artists such as Harry Connick, Michael Buble and some from Rod Stewart’s later jazz classic albums.
Together with Austereo’s other easy tempo station Buddah, this station will serve a nibble away at the edges of stations such as smooth, SBS Chill and 2CH.
At last year’s CRA National Conference, programming expert Greg Smith said a ‘2CH type station’ was needed on FM or digital radio. Perhaps the folk at Austereo were listening to that advice. What do you think of the format? See comments from one reader below and add your thoughts, or interact on this topic with us on facebook.
On the day before the third anniversary of digital radio, this new station gives older listeners another reason to buy a digital radio.
What happened to Stardust? "We are changing to Easy Radio because of your feedback." I get here, and it is ONE comment you responded to? Well I LOVE Stardust. I want Frank and Harry and Deano and Buble back. Easy is VERY disappointing. My only hope with the ORIGINAL Stardust, is that you expand your playlist a bit, even among the singers that you do play. They have more than the 2-3 songs of theirs that you played. More Stardust more of the older jazz standards. More big band. MORE!!!!
ps- Please do NOT tell me to "take it easy", talk about rage inducing.
I have been missing "Stardust" radio for quite a few years. It was similar to the "Beautiful Music" format of 2CH in the 1980s. The "Stardust" format could have expanded its repertoire to include contemporary artists, and yes even a tinge of 1990s electronic dance and classics.
The only downside apart from from closing was that there were too many songs from Rod Stewart's "American Songbook".
I remarked a few times of the saturation of the classic hits/hits and memories/golden oldies formats in the Sydney market on DAB+, FM, AM (2CH has the best signal of all stations on DAB+ at 128kbs) and online (2UW from Newcastle). Then the problem I see is that if you target the age group to a particular market, particularly an older demographic, is that the particular market will shrink over time.
To illustrate, a station playing 1960s and 1970s music targets music to the 50-65 age group. But a station playing the music from Bach (1700s) Chopin (1800s) and Johan Strauss (1800s) does not target a demographic of people aged 200+. Yet this music endures across all age groups. Music from the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and The Kinks also appeals to all age groups.
I believe that it is possible to have a music format that appeals to all age groups. A universal format for all ages and attract advertising from diverse groups, not just superannuation services, dental services, aged care services and undertakers.
The proviso before proceeding with a format that there there is genuine research and not just confirmation bias and assume that a particular genre of music belongs to a particular age demographic.
Regards
Anthony from exciting Belfield